Is this the solution to our housing crisis? Aussie family creates a home that can be built in just weeks

With tens of thousands of Australians locked out of the property market and demand for affordable housing reaching crisis point, one trailblazing family-owned company is shaking things up at breakneck speed.

Prefab housing manufacturer FutureFit, based in Drouin in regional Victoria, is slashing construction times from months to mere weeks, and offering a timely answer to the country’s housing crunch.

It comes as the Regional Australia Institute recommends an increase in the construction of prefabricated homes to help solve the housing crisis in the bush.  

FutureFit founder Peter Ward proudly points to his company’s impressive track record, including the completion of 10 townhouses in Melbourne from slab to lock up in just 51 days. 

Mr Ward said cutting-edge European panelised building technology allows a double-storey townhouse prefab kit to be assembled in just 2.5 days.

He predicts if his system is adopted widely across regional areas, it will deliver affordable housing solutions like a three-bedroom family home, built within three months for less than $500,000.

‘It’s taking longer and longer to build a house,’ he said.

‘It used to be 38 weeks and now most people are saying it’s taking a year or more. Time is money and with our system the benefit is that we really dramatically reduce the time it takes a builder to get to lock up.’ 

Mr Ward said their prefab technology was much faster than traditional brick and mortar construction, and also reduces labour costs and weather delays.

‘If a builder is building 25 homes, all of a sudden he can build 50,’ he said.

‘Our system is getting wider acceptance, and obviously mainstream, larger project builders are still using traditional methods, but we’re seeing greater and greater acceptance of a need to change.’

He added the modern construction method was far more energy efficient than traditional brick and tile homes.

‘I used to live in the house and my electricity bill every three months was $1,200 odd,’ he said.

‘An electricity bill in a home built using our system is $130.’

On Thursday, the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) released a new report exposing the crippling housing shortage sweeping the bush, warning government inaction is choking one of the country’s fastest-growing populations.

The RAI blasted the current system as a national failure, revealing despite a 10 per cent surge in people fleeing the cities, the number of homes being built in the regions has nosedived, down 21 per cent in 20 years. 

‘In the past year alone, just 48,000 new homes were approved across regional Australia – a figure chief executive Liz Ritchie said is dangerously out of step with soaring demand, and a ticking time bomb for future growth.

Ms Ritchie said the organisation is calling for 40 per cent of the National Housing Accord’s 1.2million new homes be built in the regions. 

Its latest report recommends the fast adoption of modern methods of construction, with prefabricated housing a potential solution to housing shortfalls crippling the regions. 

‘Twenty-five years ago, Australia’s regions were approving over 60,000 homes per year,’ she said.

‘This has shrunk by 21 per cent, despite the regions experiencing a population boom with more than 115,000 people making the move each year.

‘When it comes to housing, our regions face unique challenges, like high building costs, worker shortages, lack of industrial scale and the dominance of detached housing.’

Ms Ritchie said the focus of the national housing debate must shift towards increased housing construction in regional Australia. 

She said while it is generally more affordable to buy a home in regional Australia, that advantage is waning in some areas. 

‘Regional housing shortfalls are also creating a subsequent rental crisis; whereby rental availability is consistently tighter compared to capital cities,’ she said.

Mr Ward said his company is aiming to scale up but called for government support to boost the emerging industry which currently accounts for the construction of around 3 per cent of homes.

‘If it’s going to become mainstream, you need more players to embrace it, and that probably needs the will of the government to assist to help solve the housing crisis,’ he said.

‘They can’t build 1.2million homes in five years when it’s taking longer than it traditionally does to build a home.’

Regional house prices grew 62 per cent over the five years to 2023-24 compared to 37 per cent in cities.